The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1887-09-24

The Rev. Mr.. Cummings of Bridgton has
Just reiterated his statement of some months
ago that the amount of liquor drunk in this
country per capita, is ON the increase. with
the addition that it is as applicable to dis
titled as to malt liquors. Whereupon the
Bridgton News calls his attention to the
Statistical Abstract of the United States
prepared under the direction of the Seere-
tary OF the Treasury, which shows that in
twenty years there has been decrease of
over 30 per cent. in the per capita consump-
ton OF distilled liquors in this country. 1t is
by no means certain that the News will con-
vince Mr. Cummings by these statistics. or
any other statistics that it may be able to OBJ
tain. Itisacurious fact that there are certain
temperance men who are never so happy as
when they are belittling their own work and
That OF their predecessors, and never so an
CRY as when somebody points out that the
dlscredlt theyare throwing on that work is
unjust. 1t is obvious that if the per capita
consumption of distilled liquors, and of malt
liquors as well, has been on the increase
during the last quarter of a century, all
the great reform movements have been igno-
BILE failures. 1t would be natural, there
fore, to suppose that the workers in these
movements would be reluctant to admit this
premise, because the conclusion inevitably
follows that the work they are engaged in
amounts to nothing. II Mr.. Cummings
should be told that in spite of his religious
teachings and work in the church, the
amount Of wickedness in his congregation
per capita was constantly on the increase e,
hany ANNl Ina. H. Il.
lieve 1t, and very grateful to anybody who
should prove that it was not So Bnt il he is
like some temperance men that we know
Of he will feel no spark cf gratitude
to the News for pointing out that his labors
In the temperance cause have been produc-
tive of good.
Here is little Of our own experience.
When ex-Gov. St. John was perambulating
this State at $50 IA night in the interest of
the Third Party, which with him is synony-
nous with the interest of temperance, he
made the same statement that Mr. Cum
mings first made. That is, he said the con-
sumption of LIQUORS was on the increase per
capita. When the PRESS pointed out that
this was disingenuous and calculated to give
wrong impression, and showed that the
apparent increase Of consumption was sim
ply the result Of change from distilled to
malt liquors, and that the consumption of
alcohol, the intoxicating principle of all
liquors, had really decreased, 1t seemed to
the PRESS that in thus pointing out that
the reform movements of the last thirty
years had not been in vain, it was doing
good to the temperance cause. Strange
to say the PRESS within few days found
Itself sharply arraigned by one If the most
devout apostles Of Prohibition and accused
OF hurting the temperance cause, and the
way this apostle set about to repair the al
legged injury was by showing that whiskey
consumption was on the Increase, that is
that temperance agitation had been fruit
less; and the fervor of his language showed
his heart was thoroughly enlisted in the
work. The only explanation of this curious
phenomenon we can imagine is that
rather than admit that any good could
come to the country while under Re-
publican control these Third Party apos-
ties prefer to let it go that the whole tenn
perance movement, moral as well as e-
gal, from the time of the Washngtonians to
the nomination of st. John, has been COM
plete failure; that in spite of teaching and
preaching, in spite of license laws and pro-
hibitory laws, the nation has been plunging
deeper and deeper into drunkenness.